HYUNDAI Merchant Marine¡¯s turnover, operating profit and net profit figures for 2005 were all sharply down on the 2004 figures, but it plans a swift recovery this year. The South Korean liner giant blames the fall on the 11% appreciation of the won against the dollar.
Turnover fell 5.6% to W4.9Trn ($5.1Bn), compared with W5.1Trn in 2004, but operating profit dropped by 14.8% to W472.4Bn and net profit was down 9%. In dollar terms, its turnover increased by 6.3% to $4.7Bn.
However, HMM¡¯s 2006 business plan aims to raise turnover by 10% to $5.2Bn, with an operating profit of $370M. To achieve this, the company needs to carry 2.26M TEU, 5.3% more than its 2005 volume. The plan also includes HMM¡¯s intention to deploy five new 6,800TEU container ships on Asia/Europe routes, to secure LPG carriers and product/chemical tankers, and to invest $250M in ships and containers.